Minneapolis politics, slightly ground down

A Minneapolis politics podcast hosted by four-term Ward 2 city council veterans Cam Gordon and Robin Garwood, with longtime activist Jesse Mortenson

Omar Fateh Endorsed?!?! and We Fix City Conventions, with Convention Correspondent angela olson

July 25, 2025

We break down the historic result from the DFL city convention last weekend: the endorsement of Sen. Omar Fateh for Mayor. What made this possible, when almost everybody (including us) was predicting an outcome of no endorsement? We were joined by angela olson, who participated as a delegate, to share a direct account of what it felt like on the floor. Stick around for the second half, when we dive into the question of WHY these conventions are so painful, and how we think they could be a lot better.

We recorded this episode on 7/23/25.

Don't forget to check out:

Further reading

Other Podcast Takes on the Convention

(that we did NOT listen to before recording!!! we have original thoughts!!!)

History of mayoral endorsements

Campaign/media statements

  • DFL press release

    https://bsky.app/profile/taylr.bsky.social/post/3luj7kj4uq222

    • "More than 700 elected delegates participated ... along with hundreds of alternates"
    • 8000 Mpls DFLers participated in caucuses across 134 meetings, 13 ward conventions, and city convention
  • Frey Press Release / Challenging
    • "This election should be decided by the entire city rather than the small group of people who became delegates, particularly in light of the extremely flawed and irregular conduct of this convention. Voters will now have a clear choice between the records and leadership of Sen. Fateh and Mayor Frey.  We look forward to taking our vision to the voters in November."
    • “DFL leaders, delegates, and voters across our city and party are filing challenges to ensure that the inaccurate balloting of the convention does not create a permanent rift in our party,” Frey’s campaign manager, Sam Schulenberg, said in a prepared statement. “In an overwhelmingly Democratic city like Minneapolis, there is no reason to push through a DFL endorsement using a highly flawed process that clearly missed or did not count a large percentage of the votes cast.”

      https://sahanjournal.com/democracy-politics/omar-fateh-dfl-endorsement-convention-jacob-frey/

    • Process complaints

      https://bsky.app/profile/taylr.bsky.social/post/3luizjd73u22c

      • According to credentials report, at 9:20pm "there were still 865 people who would have been able to cast a vote on the first ballot under the rules of the electronic balloting system (including 699 delegates and upgraded alternates). It is completely implausible to suggest that there were that many delegates and upgraded alternates at 9:20, but hundreds fewer delegates were present and voting during the first mayoral ballot several hours earlier"
      • "first ballot ... also failed to include the mandatory 'no endorsement' option"
      • "[Amy] Livingstone entered into an agreement with the DFL Code of Conduct Committee not to participate in these kinds of roles at DFL conventions"
      • "Specific Remedy Sought: Immediate invalidation of the DFL endorsement for Minneapolis mayor and restoration of equal access to state Minnesota DFL Party databases and resources for all DFL candidates running for other offices impacted by the conduct of the convention ... we are requesting expedited emergency review from the Minnesota DFL"
  • Fateh campaign manager Akhi (Akhilesh) Menawat on organizing for endorsement

    https://bsky.app/profile/akhileshmenawat.bsky.social/post/3lug6zfa22c2b

    • "On caucus night we had a commanding victory! Our team out organized everyone and got more committed delegates than every other candidate. I started to really see a the path ahead of us. After that, Graham Faulkner and I came on as co-managers to try to bring this endorsement home."
    • "Our stacked Convention team ... won the first mayoral endorsement against an incumbent since the founding of the DFL in ‘44. We had scores of volunteers. But most importantly we won over 2/3 of the delegates by the end.
    • "Conventions are about momentum. You work to build it but when a win is possible, you still have to capture it. Our floor team, comms team, data team, and off floor team were able to do just that. We flipped delegates by having genuine conversations about the future of our city."
  • Davis initial reaction

    https://bsky.app/profile/dewayneforminneapolis.com/post/3lufuwxchec2x

    • "I want to congratulate Sen. Fateh on securing the Minneapolis DFL endorsement last night. It was such a moving moment seeing your excitement after that last vote – I know you and your team put your all into making it happen.
    • "I also want to thank the 20% of delegates who voted for me on that first ballot. Thank you for your vote of confidence. You made it so clear that our city deserves better. The work of change continues, and I can’t wait to see what we can build together.
  • Davis full statement

    https://bsky.app/profile/dewayneforminneapolis.com/post/3lukzriuhes2o

    • Since Saturday’s convention, many people have reached out to ask if I will be challenging the DFL endorsement. I want to be clear: I will not challenge the endorsement and will not collaborate with those who are challenging the endorsement.
    • It’s true that there were many problems with balloting at the convention. That was obvious to anyone who attended. Electronic voting was supposed to be faster and more secure than paper ballots. Unfortunately, the balloting system failed.
    • DFL volunteers spent hours fixing problems with the data. The system didn’t automatically remove duplicate votes. That had to be done manually. Alternates were not upgraded automatically as promised. There was a big difference between the number of delegates credentialed in and the votes cast.
    • Our campaign believes it’s plausible, if not likely, that we would have made it to the second ballot had votes been accurately counted. We missed the higher-than-usual first ballot threshold by less than one-tenth of one percent.
    • Even still, we will not be challenging the results. While it’s true there were clear problems with the balloting process, it’s also true that delegates were informed about the problems during the convention and decided through democratic processes to proceed with a second ballot.
    • While that decision negatively impacted our campaign by keeping us off the second ballot, it would be against the values of this campaign to try to overturn a decision made through democratic processes, simply because the outcome wasn’t favorable for us.
    • Anyone who attended the convention could see that Omar Fateh’s campaign ran an incredibly strong convention program. Their team was exceptionally organized and their delegates were enthusiastic participants in the process.
    • Their delegates were a multi-racial, multi-generational, and multi-class coalition, who were clearly well prepared for the day and excited to work to win the endorsement for their candidate. It would be against the values of our campaign to attempt to disenfranchise those delegates.
    • On the first ballot, Omar Fateh earned 43.85 percent of the votes cast. He earned the endorsement on Saturday because many of our delegates chose to support him once we were no longer on the ballot. I would never work to overturn my own delegates’ votes.
    • While we’re disappointed with the problems with balloting, we also understand how difficult it is to organize a convention. The DFL volunteers who did that work did the best they could with limited resources. We appreciate their work and know the problems with balloting were not intentional.
    • Our campaign is looking forward, not backward. We’re focused on connecting with voters across our city who know we need new leadership. We believe we deserve better and look forward to talking with voters about how we can do better together between now and November.
  • Hampton initial statement

    https://bsky.app/profile/jazzformayor.bsky.social/post/3luft4eqpg222

    • Congratulations to @omarfatehmn.com on earning the DFL endorsement for Minneapolis Mayor! I look forward to continuing this journey and engaging in a positive, spirited race. See ya on the ballot in November!
  • Josh Martin on convention organizing faults

    https://bsky.app/profile/joshmartinmpls.bsky.social/post/3luj4fzuc5s2d

    • "Eventually, after high caucus turnout and because Conrad found out the auditorium was even smaller than he thought, he at last began working on finding a new venue. Not long after that, he resigned, and the resulting leadership void significantly delayed convention planning and finding a new venue."

News coverage

Convention Timeline

Relying heavily here on Josh Martin's bluesky thread

  • Official agenda

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Mxjbagm3aTwiityY3-I4tdrLzgivX0G4/view

    • "Endorsement of a candidate for mayor - no later than 2:00 p.m."
    • "Endorsement of candidates for park board - no later than 6:00 p.m."
    • "Adjournment, no later than 10 p.m."
    • Prayer Breaks

      Prayer Breaks. The city convention, and each district convention, must recess, and no business nor any upgrading of alternates may be conducted, during the following times: a. 1:15 to 1:45 pm, b. 5:21 to 5:51 pm, c. 8:49 to 9:04 pm. d. 10:35 to 10:55 pm

  • OBSERVATIONS
    • 6 hours between call to order and first electronic ballot (Mayor)
    • 2 hours (almost) between electronic ballot and ballot results announced (Mayor)
    • 2 hours between ballot 1 results announced and badge vote (Mayor)
  • Josh Martin timeline
    • 11:18: call to order
    • 11:48: delegate numbers reported
    • 11:57: challenges begin
    • 12:48: convention co-chairs elected
    • 1:00: agenda adopted
      • lunch/prayer break in here
    • 1:57: rules adopted
    • 2:25: mayoral nominations and speeches
    • 3:31: QA of mayoral candidates begin
    • 4:34: practice ballot
    • 5:16: motion for paper ballots FAILS
    • 5:16: electronic ballot starts

      https://bsky.app/profile/joshmartinmpls.bsky.social/post/3ludygvykv22x

    • 5:22: first ballot voting CLOSED
      • prayer break
    • 5:57: BET Fine and Brandt nominated and endorsed by acclamation
    • 6:22: Park board nominations
    • 7:19: Mayoral First Ballot results announced
    • 7:49: Park Board At Large speeches
    • 8:49: "Various motions to suspend the rules to have no endorsement and/or adjourn fail."
    • ????? FREY TEXT TO BREAK QUORUM
    • 8:50: final prayer break
    • 9:19: Motion to suspend rules and do badge vote PASSES
      • except park board at large will have ballot
    • 9:28: Fateh endorsed "overwhelmingly"
    • 9:34: ballot endorsements for park board
      • Dan Engelhart endorsed for District 1.
      • Kedar Deshpande endorsed for District 3.
      • Jason Garcia endorsed for District 4.
      • No Endorsement for District 5.
      • Ira Jourdain endorsed for District 6.
    • 9:53: paper ballot for Park Board At Large completed
    • 9:57: badge vote for BDS resolution
    • 9:58: badge vote for Heron Rookery
    • 10:02: Fateh speaks

Tallies

  • Delegates
    • Josh Martin: "Credentials chair reports there are
      • 626 delegates
      • 368 alternates checked in
      • for a total of 994."
  • Mayor
  • Park Board At Large
    • Michael Wilson, 398 (endorsed)
    • Tom Olsen, 394 (endorsed)
    • Amber Frederick, 363 (endorsed)
    • Meg Forney, 32
    • Mary McKelvey, 31
    • Tim Peterson, 30
    • Matthew Dowgwillo, 25
    • Spoiled ballots, 25
    • No endorsement, 7
    • TOTAL 478
      • 577 - 478 = 99 (17% drop off from Mayor Round 1)

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